


One

by rowofstars



Series: If Wishes Were Kisses [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Enchanted Forest, Angst, Canon Compliant, Episode: s01e12 Skin Deep, F/M, Ficlet, First Kiss, Introspection, Kissing, True Love's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 14:19:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13683423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rowofstars/pseuds/rowofstars
Summary: Rumple and Belle's first kiss, True Love's Kiss from Skin Deep. Rumple POV.





	One

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my new little random project!

The first time they kiss, it’s magic.

Literally.

True Love’s Kiss. Rumplestiltskin can feel the power in it, the lightness as his curse starts to fall away, shattered by the power of their love. Her hand is on his thigh, the heat and weight of her driving him mad with want. Her lips are soft and pliant, but she controls everything that is happening, and he would let her have and do anything if only she would never stop. He wants to bask in this feeling, let it consume every evil thing he has become and render him dust, only to be made new and whole by the gentleness of Belle’s touch. 

But beneath it, the anger and despair rages, the ache in his heart for Baelfire, for the son he lost through his own foolishness. He never meant to let his boy go, and though he doesn’t ever want to let Belle go either, he knows he must. A dark voice tells him he could do it now. He could cast the curse himself. The heart of the thing he loves most is right there, right inside her lovely, delicate chest, behind pale, soft skin. Belle’s beating heart, calling to him like a siren. He could do it, he could go and find his son right now…

At the last second he pulls away and speaks in confusion. Is this real? Does she really love him as he has come to love her? Or is it something nefarious, a trick by Regina to leave him powerless, and worse, to take the power for herself?

_No._

No, he has felt this magic before. He made a potion out of True Love once, and sold it for a high price. He could feel it then, through the glass of the bottle, the warmth swirling inside, the unique sensation that only comes from true and complete acceptance. Belle wouldn’t help Regina willinging, or so he hopes, and if Regina has somehow tricked Belle, or cast a compulsion on her, there will be hell to pay.

Real or not, there is only one thing Rumplestiltskin can do.

He lets the curse overwhelm him again as he stumbles backwards, his hands balling into tight fists, claws digging into his palms. He whirls on the mirror and tears down the heavy brocade curtain that covers it, already screaming at his nemesis. It settles in, dark and hungry, and he lets it feed every negative emotion to give him the strength to do what he has to do. He will never see Belle again after this, and it will probably destroy whatever love she might have for him, but he will have had this. One perfect moment of pure joy like he has only known once before, holding his newborn child in his arms.

Belle tries to reach for him, but his face contorts as he springs away from her, icy rage stinging in his veins. Her expression is hurt and confused, but he pushes on, pushes her away. It will keep her safe, from him and the curse, he hopes. She could go home again and be with her family, be with someone who deserves the kind of bright, shining love she has inside her. She starts to cry and he steels himself, jabbing a blackened fingernail in her face before he shoves her to the hard stone floor. 

It’s for Baelfire, he tells himself, but with the sound of the dungeon door slamming shut, the clang of the thick metal reverberating in his ears, it is cold comfort.


End file.
